Novel dynamic conditioning unit for the reproduction of real driving conditions on a test bed

摘要

The importance of thermal management has increased with the advent of electrification and fuel cell. The dynamic responserequired from the thermal circuit has also increased and cannot be reproduced by today’s conditioning systems. This contributiondescribes a novel, considerably more powerful conditioning concept with three main characteristics:1. The positioning of the control actuator on the side of theunit under test without causing changes in the hydrauliccircuit. The exchange of heat in this configuration occursthrough mixing.2. Model-based control including improved temperaturemeasurement as the basis for the robust variation of fluidtemperature.3. A small and compact design through the consequent optimizationof component location. This has the effect offurther improving the dynamic response and offers greatflexibility in practical use.The new conditioning concept is validated via simulation as well as by an application on a powertrain test bed. The systemproved to be extremely robust in its function due to the consideration of all influencing parameters and, in addition, it is easyto use: no time-consuming configuration work is required prior to installation, nor when changing the test bed or the unitunder test. The foundation for this is the model-based control that is based on a direct relationship between the temperatureof the medium and the setpoint value. For the first time, temperature traces previously measured under real operation conditionscan be reproduced and even temperature gradients of up to 60 K/s can be followed. The dynamic conditioning unitdescribed here will be extended by a transient, real-time capable simulation model to a thermal emulator. This will enablefuture thermal management functions to be developed and optimized in ThermoLabs.